Socom Squad
The Socom Squad Elite Newgrounds Animation Team (also referred to as Socom Squids, from their domain name) is a trolling flash group that originally existed from January 2007 to July 2009, and was later revived in July 2011. They are based on the Glock Group, and began as a revival thereof. The SOCOM is an H&K pistol used by US special forces. Activity on Newgrounds Flash The Socom Squad, in its original incarnation, was a semi-active community of trolls who sought to have high amounts of hilarious reviews per flash, often leading to seizure-inducing, ear-splitting, or just downright confusing animations, as can be found on their first Newgrounds account. Occasional animations were produced throughout 2010, and the group was fully revived in July 2011, two years after its official demise. Style The Socom Squad have avatars similar to those used by the Clock Crew and other Flash Crews, with a SOCOM pistol which acts as a "face" placed on an object such as a fruit. These avatars are used, often with voices generated by Speakonia, as characters in their animations. The typical Socom Squad SOCOM pistol is rendered with a laser sight attachment, which gives it a distinctive boxy shape. Account As of August 2010, the first SS account has over 220 submissions from 2007 to 2010. Awards The Socom Squad has at least 3 awards, including TOTW and Review Crew. Criticism If you are unfamiliar with the type of reviews the SS got during its existence, viewing this flash is a good place to start. This review by RobotBuu also sums it up. Most Newgrounds users either love or hate the group, with few in between. The group got a good laugh out of angry/rant reviews, and its flashes were often deliberately engineered to generate those kinds of reviews. Rivalries The Socom Squad has feuded with numerous other groups, most notably the Uzi Union, United Uzis, Kitty Krew, Bomb Brigade, Gear Group, Owl Organization, and the NGL Rebels. A forum on the SS website, known as the Squidsurgency Chamber, existed for the sole purpose of plotting the infiltration and destruction of other groups. In one instance of such rivalry, the Socom Squad feuded with the Atom Association, submitting parody flashes, and spamming and hacking the AA's forums and NG accounts. Eventually a tongue-in-cheek 'peace treaty' was signed, accompanied by celebratory peace flashes from each group. SS members were also known to hack into rivals' NG accounts, including those of former members who fell out of favor with the group. Alliances The Socom Squad also had friend groups that shared mutual interests. These were few and far between, but included one Glock Group revival, the Commie Club, and the Duck Division (which was, at first, considered a rival group). In the later years of the group, they became allies with the Uzi Union as well. History Before the Socoms The origin of the Socom Squad was in a Glock Group revival on Invisionfree by AnarchyGlock (PineappleSocom), TIE Glock (GoldSocom), AarghCat (RaspberrySocom), and SaltyJelloGlock (BlackberrySocom) during December 2006. It was decided that an original group should be made, and the then-small group went through a series of name changes before deciding to be the Socom Squad (which is based on the pistol, and not the PlayStation game series). Pab and Paddyruption Things started off slowly as a new forum was started by PineappleSocom, BlackberrySocom, RaspberrySocom, GoldSocom, and the Mad Hatter, with each person creating the occasional flash and collaboration. Most early Socom submissions were blammed, with the first passing one being ATTN kev3458. Six days later (2007-01-24), Socom Knows Best! was submitted. The date of this animation's passing was chosen to be Socom Day (later known as SquiDay), an annual celebration of the group's existence. After their first few forums, the Socom Squad gained speed and new members. Notable among them was the alpha moderator, HappyHitlerSocom, whose earlier nickname of Paddy was the basis for naming the group's early history The Paddyruption Age. Dot Net On 2007-07-05, BlackberrySocom, tired of the constant switching of forums due to compromised administrator accounts, purchased socomsquids.net. It was made into the official Socom Squad website with the opening of its first forum on 2007-08-10. The website remained online for two years, after which BlackberrySocom decided that the group had run its course and the time had come for it to fade away. The Return Former Socom Squad administrators PineappleSocom, CarrotSocom, MushroomSocom and AngryFaceSocom re-opened socomsquids.net in July 2011, intending to completely revive the Socom Squad. As of August 2011, they are submitting new stuff. Lore The Socoms lived in several cities, each of which was the name for their various forums. Most notable among them were the first city of Socomlavia, the airship Socomdria, and the desert town Socomololobod. The city of Socomsquiddia was a more secure living area, but it was later abandoned in favor of Socomlavia III/IV, where the group remained until its demise in 2009. External Links *SocomSquids.net *2007-2009 Account *2011 Account *2009 Pre-Death Announcement *2009 Post-Death Announcement Category:Crews Category:Flash Crew